


not an owl

by soon2befamous13



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamory, Rating May Change, im bad at tagging, there will be an overall plot arc i promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-05-14 12:51:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5744482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soon2befamous13/pseuds/soon2befamous13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hogwarts AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> okay if you're super anti Slytherin!ham...just give it a shot anyway? it just makes a lot of sense in the context of the story im trying to write. also this is un-beta'd, so any mistakes are mine.  
> enjoy!

“Stop stressing. You’re freaking yourself out over nothing,” Angelica Schuyler says firmly to her sister.  
Elizabeth Schuyler bites her lip. “But—”  
“Eliza. Stop.” Angelica takes her sister’s hands. “It doesn’t matter what house you get put in. No one will think any differently of you. Mom’s a Hufflepuff, Dad’s a Gryffindor, I’m a Ravenclaw. We’re a pretty diverse group.”  
“I guess…” Eliza still looks uncertain.  
“You’ll probably be Hufflepuff,” Peggy pipes up from where she’s seated on the floor of her sisters’ room.  
“You think so?” Eliza turns to her younger sibling.  
“Sure. You’re the nicest person I know,” Peggy says, smiling up at Eliza.  
“It doesn’t matter if you get put in Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw, or even Slytherin, okay? Nothing will change.” Angelica injects, making sure the point hits home.  
“Okay, okay. I believe you.”  
“Angelica! Eliza!” The sisters hear their mother calling from downstairs. “Come on, you don’t want to miss the train, do you?”  
“And Peggy!” Peggy shouts down the stairs, scurrying after her sisters.  
“You’ll have your turn soon, Peggy,” her father tells her sternly.  
“Oh, don’t act like she can’t come with us, Phillip,” the girl’s mother chides. “Come on, girls, hold our hands.”  
The whole family clasps hands and when Eliza opens her eyes, she’s on a train platform.  
Eliza gives a nervous glance around. Although she knows that Muggles never notice when wizards just appear places, and that her parents are always very careful, but she still feels like people are staring at them. But to be fair, if they are, it’s probably more to do with the odd sight they make than how they got there. Eliza’s father is a large African-American man, and her mother is a small Asian woman. Angelica took almost completely after their father, and Eliza took almost completely after their mother. Peggy was a perfect mix, getting creamy light brown skin and enticing slanted eyes that are a shade lighter than her skin. When they’re all together, it’s easy enough to see where everyone gets their features from, but Eliza’s gotten a fair share of strange looks whenever she’s gone out with her father alone, or with Angelica. No one ever believes that she and Angelica are biological sisters at first, and even after being shown proof some people still are skeptical.  
“All right, Angelica, you know how this works,” Phillip Schuyler says to his daughter. Angelica nods eagerly and runs towards Platform 9 ¾.  
Eliza takes a deep breath, then charges after her sister. When she comes out on the other side, she has a brief moment of panic when she doesn’t see Angelica, but the older girl quickly appears to grab her hand and flash her a comforting smile. “Come on, let’s board the train.”  
A huge smile appears on Eliza’s face as she finally allows herself to believe that all this is really happening. For a long time, Eliza had showed no signs of magic, and the fear that she might be a Squib had crept into her mind by the time she was eight and had still made no magic. This was made worse by the fact that Angelica had been consistently changing the colors of the flowers around the house since she was five, and Peggy had sparks flying around the kitchen when she was two years old. On Eliza’s ninth birthday, she decided that she would have once last try at magic, and if it didn’t work, she’d officially give up. So she sat herself in front of a piece of paper and patiently focused on getting it to burst into flames for the better part of an hour. Once this amount of time had passed and the paper didn’t have a single singe, years of frustration boiled up inside of Eliza and got released all at once in a scream. When Catherine Schuyler ran into the room to see what was wrong, she found that it was raining in the living room, and her daughter was looking around in wonder, tears of joy running down her face.  
After this incident, it was clear that Eliza was not a Squib, and in fact might be the most powerful witch in her family. “I had a friend who discovered her magic much the same way you did,” Catherine had told her nine-year-old daughter. “Practical magic was never easy for her, but when she felt passionately about something, no one else’s magic could even come close to the strength that she carried.”  
So Eliza had stopped worrying about her magic, and on her eleventh birthday, she received a Hogwarts letter, just like her sister had the year before. Eliza is thrilled to finally be heading off to the famous wizarding school. She’d been homeschooled her whole life, knowing hardly anyone besides her parents and sisters. The magic is going to be fun, but what Eliza is most looking forward to is finally making some friends.  
Eliza lets herself get led to a train car by Angelica, not making eye contact with any of the other students passing by her. It’s only once she’s comfortably seated that she peaks her head out the door and has a quick look around. The only thing that catches her eye is a cute skinny boy talking animatedly to a boy with a ponytail. He’s gesturing wildly with his hands, his eyes wide and sparkling, and Eliza finds herself helpless to look away until Angelica pulls her back inside the cab. The two of them talk until the train stops, Eliza making her sister retell every Hogwarts story she’s ever heard.  
“Okay, you have to go with Gwinnett, he takes all the first years in boats,” Angelica instructs her younger sister when they get off the train.  
“Who’s Gwinnett?” Eliza asks, not having heard the name before.  
“Oh, he’s the groundskeeper. Button Gwinnett. He’s a really nice guy. You’ll like him. Everybody does. Now go!” Angelica gives Eliza a small push in the right direction before heading off her own way.  
“First years! First years over here!” A man who must be Button Gwinnett is calling, waving a lantern around in the air. Eliza heads over to him, falling into step with another girl who must be a first year.  
“Hi," the slightly chubby girl greets her. "Hi," Eliza responds with a bright smile. "It's so amazing to finally be here," the girl gushes. "I got letters from my friend describing it, but somehow I never thought I'd ever be old enough to really be here. I'm Dolley Payne, by the way." "Elizabeth Schuyler. You can call me Eliza. And I know what you mean. My sister's a year older than me, so I've heard all about it from her, but it's so different to actually see it for myself." By this time, they've reached the boats, and a girl who must be a Muggle-born squeaks out, "Where are the oars?" Eliza climbs into a boat, with Dolley right behind her. She turns to the girl and calls, "They row themselves. Don't worry, they're perfectly safe." The girl hesitantly gets in, and Eliza is almost tempted to ask her how she found out about being a witch. Being brought up in a pureblood family, Eliza doesn't know much about how Muggle-borns react to the fact that they have magic, or for that matter, how their parents must react. She's never really thought about it, but it must come as quite a shock, finding out about an entirely new world. Thoughts like this buzzing in her head, Eliza turns around and keeps her eyes on the Hogwarts castle while the boats drift forward. 

“Well, see, my dad left when I was little, but he definitely wasn’t a wizard. My mom would have noticed. She’s smart like that. She’d known that there was something weird about me since I was two, which is why she wasn’t even that surprised when I got the letter,” Alexander Hamilton is explaining to the boy he met on the train, Gilbert Lafayette, who claims he prefers to be called by his last name.  
Lafayette nods. “It was completely different for me. My parents were very surprised. My father thought it was a joke and spent a good amount of time trying to find out who was, how you say, joking us, until someone appeared in our living room and explained the whole thing. I was meant to go to a different school, one in France, but since I spoke English well and was so good with magic, Hogwarts called for me especially.” Lafayette beams at the end of his story.  
“I’m so glad the first person I met here was another Muggle-born,” Alex says in the fast-paced eager way he says everything. “I read that some purebloods, like, discriminate against us or something. Isn’t that messed up? I mean, just because you aren’t born into a huge family of wizards doesn’t make you any less of a wizard.”  
“I think if we befriend the right people, we won’t have any problems,” Lafayette says simply.  
Alex seems like he’s about to say something else, when someone clears their throat loudly. The two boys look up to see a large man getting ready to address the sea of first-years.  
“Hello, everyone. I am Professor Henry Knox. I teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I am also the Head of Gryffindor House. You’ll be seeing a lot of me in your years here. Now, in a minute, you will be sorted into your Houses. You will either be sorted into Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin.”  
“What House do you think you’ll get sorted into?” Alex whispers to Lafayette as Knox keeps talking.  
“I do not know,” Lafayette whispers back. “I have not done quite as much, uh…reading as you have on the subject.”  
“Well, the second I found out what I was, I had to learn everything I could. I mean, what else was I supposed to do? I couldn’t just walk into this whole thing blind. Anyway, I think I’ll get—”  
“Ahem.”  
Alex looks up and finds himself staring right into Professor Knox’s large stomach. He takes a small step back and tilts his head back further in order to make eye contact with the man. “Yes?” he manages to squeak out.  
“What is your name, young man?”  
“Uh, Alexander Hamilton. Sir.”  
“Well, Alexander Hamilton, I’d suggest that the next time you find yourself being addressed to by a teacher, you pay attention. You might learn something important.”  
At that moment, the doors behind the Professor open by themselves, and Knox turns around abruptly. “All right, children. Follow me.”  
Alex can’t help but let his jaw drop open when he walks into the Great Hall. He’d read all about it, of course, but pictures, even special moving wizard pictures, don’t even come close to capturing the beauty and enormity of the room. He looks up and sees the night sky, which perfectly mirrors the weather that he just came in from.  
“What if it starts to rain?” Lafayette asks, gesturing to the ceiling.  
“It’s just a spell,” Alex explains. “There’s a solid roof above our heads, don’t worry.”  
Once everyone is settled, Professor Knox explains that everyone will be sorted into Houses by the Sorting Hat, which seems to be a beat-up old hat seated on a stool. Knox then pulls out a list and says, “When your name is called, please come up to the stool and place the hat upon your head. Then go to the table that corresponds with the House you’ve been assigned.” He clears his throat, then reads out, “Aaron Burr!”  
A slender dark-skinned boy walks slowly but confidently towards the stool and places the hat on his head, which is there for a few seconds before the hat calls out, “Slytherin!” A relieved smile appears on the boy’s face, and the Slytherin table erupts in cheers as he takes his place among them.  
Names continue to be called until Alex hears “Alexander Hamilton!” come from Knox’s mouth. Alex finds himself shakier and more nervous than he thought he would be, but he tries not to let it show as he sits on the stool and places the hat on his head.  
Alexander Hamilton. Hmm, let’s see…  
Alex gives a brief start when he hears the voice loud and clear in his head.  
You’re a tough one to crack. You have all the brash and reckless bravery of a Gryffindor, but the drive and ambition of the purest of Slytherins. So where to put you…  
After about five seconds of excruciating silence, Alex internally rolls his eyes and thinks well, if it’s that difficult for you, why don’t you just put me in Ravenclaw and get it over with?  
The hat seems to make a hmmph noise. All right, if that’s how you want to play it…  
“Slytherin!” The hat calls out loud. The Slytherin table cheers, and Alex makes his way towards it, a bit stunned. He’d pinned himself as either a Gryffindor or a Ravenclaw, based on how many fights he’d been and how well he’d done at school. Going over it in his head, however, he supposes that his constant desire to prove himself is an inherently Slytherin trait, so his sorting does make sense, even if it might not be the House he would have chosen for himself.  
Alex watches the rest of the sorting from his seat at the Slytherin table, only taking note of a few students. Gilbert Lafayette gets put at the Hufflepuff table after nearly a minute on the stool. A pretty girl named Maria Lewis gets sorted into Slytherin right after Lafayette, and she sits right across from Alex. He watches as Dolley Payne gets sorted into Hufflepuff, and watches as a stunning Asian girl, Elizabeth Schuyler, also gets sorted into Hufflepuff, hugs Dolley when she sits down, and gives a thumbs-up to someone at the Ravenclaw table. A shrimpy pale boy called Samuel Seabury also is sorted into Hufflepuff, which he seems vaguely put out about, casting longing glances at the Slytherin table.  
The last person is sorted into Gryffindor, and Knox rolls up his scroll and says, “And now, some words from your Headmaster, George Washington.”  
A man Alex hadn’t noticed at first steps up to a podium and places his wand to his neck. “For the first years: welcome to Hogwarts.” His voice booms across the Great Hall, and everyone is completely silent. “For everyone else, welcome back. I only have a few announcements, and then I’ll let you get to the feast. As always, don’t go into the Forbidden Forest, as it is forbidden. If you happen to get tapped on the shoulder three times and lose your sense of vision for a moment, do not be alarmed. Now, enjoy your feast.”  
With that, the table fills itself with huge amounts of food, and Alex digs in as if he hasn’t eaten in years.

“What did he mean about the shoulder tapping thing?” Aaron Burr asks the person next to him, a fifth year named Charles Lee.  
Charles Lee waves Aaron’s question off. “Oh, that’s just Washington. He’s always saying weird stuff like that. You’ll learn not to take most of what he says seriously.”  
“Oh, okay,” Aaron says, still thinking there’s something more to what Washington said, but decides to let it go for the moment.  
“Lee,” a voice from behind Aaron calls, causing the two boys to turn around to see a good-looking tall girl with wildly curly hair crossing her arms. “You didn’t forget about my chocolate frogs, did you?”  
Charles Lee sighs. “Are you really not going to let that go?”  
“You stole all of my Washington cards and burned them. I was generous by giving you a whole summer to collect them all again. Now, where are they?”  
Lee reluctantly takes a small stack of cards out of his pocket. “I don’t see why you couldn’t have just gotten them yourself if you like them so much,” he mutters as he hands them over.  
“Because then you would get no consequences for your actions,” the girl answers matter-of-factly. Then, surprisingly, she turns right to Aaron and says, “Take my advice: stay away from this guy. He’s scum.” She winks at Aaron, blows Lee a sarcastic kiss, then turns around and heads back to the Ravenclaw table.  
“Who was that?” Aaron asks, his eyes still trained on the girl.  
“Oh, that’s Theodosia Prevost. She’s a fourth year.” Lee looks at Aaron and seems to notice how entranced the younger boy is. “Kid, don’t even. She has a boyfriend. And even if she didn’t, you’re just a first year. She’d never go for a little shrimp like you.”  
Aaron just steals one last glance at Theodosia before turning back to the table and shrugging. “I’m willing to wait.”  
The rest of the feast goes uneventfully, aside from a skinny first year with bright eyes that keeps glancing at him. The boy doesn’t actually talk him until they get shown the dorms, and Aaron sits down on his bed, exhausted from the day’s events and ready to go to sleep.  
“Hey, you’re Aaron Burr, right?” the boy asks, awkwardly standing in front of Aaron’s bed.  
“Who’s asking?” Aaron retaliates.  
“Oh! Sorry, of course. I’m Alexander Hamilton,” the boy answers hastily. “Sorry to bother you, it’s just…I read a bunch of your mother’s books, they were very compelling, and your father, he founded a wizarding school in Africa, I read about it, and he was the Headmaster before he…”  
Aaron gives a small tired smile when Alexander trails off, finally realizing what he’s saying. “Before he died, yes,” Aaron says.  
“You were brought up by your mother’s close friend and her family,” Alexander says quietly. “You’re a prodigy, picked up real magic so fast that Hogwarts considered letting you in two years ago.”  
“You’ve certainly done your research,” Aaron responds with a slight smirk.  
“There was a whole chapter on your family in Important Magical Families: Volume III,” Alexander tells him. “I just…I mean, it’s an honor to meet you, I guess.”  
“Listen, Alexander, you want some advice from your local prodigy?” Alexander nods enthusiastically. “Think about what you want to say before you say it. Then when you’re sure of what you want to say, say about a third of that.”  
Alex tilts his head in confusion, looking very much like a puppy.  
“In simpler terms: talk less.”  
“Huh?”  
“Look, you’re in Slytherin, so you obviously want to get ahead. Talking non-stop is not a good way to get there.”  
“Oh. Uh…okay.” Alexander stays standing there for a minute, seeming unsure what to do, until at last he walks over to his own bed and lies down.  
Aaron gets comfortable under the covers and tosses around for a bit, searching for the best sleeping position. Even when he is completely settled, his mind is still wide awake. Alexander Hamilton, despite his good intentions, has stirred up old memories that Aaron usually tries to keep at the back of his mind. Memories of himself as a little boy, barely five years old, asking what happened to his parents. Getting a little bit older and reading all about it, and wanting to cry for his parents but not being able to. Trying to remember what his famous father and mother were like, and coming up empty.  
By the time he was ten, he’d read every book his mother had written, and every essay his father had published, desperate for a sense of what his parents had been like before they died. All he’d managed to get from the woman he’d come to know as his mother was that “your parents would have wanted you to have a good education.” So Aaron studied, and it was easy, but it wasn’t enough. He had decided that the only way to understand who his parents had been was to honor their legacy. Aaron is meant for greatness, and he is going to make his parents proud.  
Rolling over, Aaron tries to get his mind to conjure up some more pleasant thoughts. Theodosia Burr, for example. Aaron has seen plenty of girls in his eleven years, but none of them even come close to the kind of beauty that he had seen in Theodosia at the feast. He lets his thoughts linger on her, one final decision coming into his mind before he drifts off to sleep: He will honor his parent’s legacy, and win Theodosia’s heart.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I edited the first chapter a little cuz i realized im super dumb since i introduced dolley as a muggle-born when that won't work with her whole character arc and the relationship she has with madison. anyway let's pretend that never happened and on with the chapter!

“So? How has your Hogwarts experience been going?” Angelica Schuyler asks her sister. They’re sitting at the Hufflepuff table, and it’s a little early for lunch, but a little late for breakfast, so there aren’t that many other people there.   
“It’s been going well,” Eliza answers, her eyes shifting to something behind Angelica before meeting the other girl’s eyes again. “I made a friend. Her name’s Dolley Payne. And most of my teachers seem nice enough.”  
“Yeah? Who’s your favorite?”  
“Well, I like Professor Abigail. And Professor Franklin is pretty funny,” Eliza says, her eyes once again drifting to something in the distance before snapping back.  
Angelica continues to engage her sister in conversation, but the fifth time Eliza’s eyes drift, Angelica snaps her fingers in Eliza’s face, making the Hufflepuff jump. “Okay, I’m dying to know—what is back there that is so much more interesting than me?” Angelica teases kindly.  
Eliza blushes. “N-nothing, just…”  
Angelica turns around and sees a skinny boy at the Slytherin table, writing something intently while a blonde girl talks at him. “At him” being the proper term, because the boy seems to have no interest in responding to her. Angelica watches as the blonde pauses in her rambling, seeming to expect an answer, and when she gets none, she rolls her eyes and flounces away, leaving the boy alone. Angelica turns to Eliza and says, “I’ll be right back.”  
Before her sister has a chance to respond, Angelica walks over to the Slytherin table and sits across from the boy.  
“Looks like your girlfriend’s mad at you,” Angelica says, startling the boy out of his writing.  
“What?” he asks confusedly.  
“That blonde girl who just left in a huff. Is she not your girlfriend?”  
Understanding dawns on the boy’s face. “Oh, you mean Kitty? No, she’s not my girlfriend. She’s just around sometimes. I’m not…I don’t have a girlfriend.”  
“Oh, good.” The boy raises his eyebrows. “I mean…I’m Angelica Schuyler.”  
“Alexander Hamilton.”  
“What are you writing?”  
“Paper for History of Magic.”  
“Oh, I wouldn’t want to distract you from your work.”  
“No, it’s fine. It’s not due for two weeks. I can…talk.”  
Angelica feels a slight jolt of panic when she notices the look in the boy’s eyes, and the slight curve of his mouth. He’s flirting with her. He probably thinks that she was flirting with him. And honestly, looking into his sparkling eyes, it doesn’t seem like a bad idea…but no, she’s not here for that. She’s here for Eliza.  
With that fact fresh in her mind, Angelica stands up and holds her hand out to Alexander. “Come with me.”  
He looks confused but stands up and takes her hand anyway. “Where are we going?”  
I’m about to change your life, Angelica thinks. Out loud she says, “The Hufflepuff table.”  
Before Alexander can say anything, Angelica sits him down across from Eliza, who’s blushing profusely and looking down at her shoes shyly. Alexander, despite being confused, rises to the occasion and says, “Uh, hi. I’m Alexander Hamilton.”  
Eliza looks up and says, “Elizabeth Schuyler.”  
Alexander looks between the two girls, his eyebrows raised. “Schuyler?”  
“My sister. Dad’s black, Mom’s Asian,” Angelica explains.  
“Sorry if this is distracting you from what you were writing,” Eliza says.  
Here Alexander smiles, the flirty look coming back into his eyes. Seeing it directed at Eliza instead of herself gives Angelica a slight twinge of jealousy that she quickly shakes off. “Elizabeth Schuyler, if it takes failing History of Magic for us to meet, it will have been worth it.”  
The blush, which had been retreating from Eliza’s cheeks, comes back with a vengeance, and she ducks her head. Seeing that her assistance is no longer needed, Angelica claps her hands together and says, “I’ll leave you to it.” Throwing one final fond glance back at her sister and her crush, Angelica exits the Great Hall, only to be immediately run into.  
“Oh! I’m so sorry!” Angelica gives a quick once-over to the girl who had just crashed into her. She’s slim, with light brown skin and a stylish pixie cut. She’s also very pretty.  
“No problem,” Angelica reassures the girl. “Why are you in such a rush?”  
The girl looks down sheepishly. “I was looking for the Transfiguration room and I got lost. It’s so big in here! And the stairs kept moving…”  
“I can get you there. Do you have your schedule?”  
The girl nods and hands the schedule over. Angelica looks at it and says, “Right, you’ve got Franklin. You’re a first year, I assume?”  
“Yeah. My name’s Sally. I’ve never been very good with directions,” the girl explains as she walks with Angelica towards Franklin’s room.  
“You get used to this place after a while,” Angelica says as they climb a staircase that won’t move for at least another minute.  
Angelica isn’t lying, exactly; she’d certainly gotten used to it very quickly, but some of her friends hadn’t gotten the hang of it until halfway through the year. John Church still occasionally gets lost, which Angelica teases him endlessly about.  
“What House are you in?” Sally asks.  
“Ravenclaw,” Angelica answers. “You?”  
“Hufflepuff.”  
“Oh, so is my sister. Do you know her? Elizabeth Schuyler?”  
Sally is about to answer when a voice rings out across the hall, “Schuyler!”  
Angelica turns her head briefly, matching the voice with the face, before facing forward again, not bothering to make eye contact. “Jefferson.”  
Thomas Jefferson strides up next to Angelica, his long legs allowing him to easily keep up with her pace. “What’s up, Schuyler? I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages.”  
“That’s because I’ve been avoiding you.” Angelica comes to an abrupt stop and points a classroom out to Sally. “There’s the Transfiguration room. And I’d get a map, okay? This school is confusing.”  
“Okay. Thank you!” Sally casts a final look at Thomas Jefferson before scurrying off to her class.  
“Avoiding me?” Jefferson resumes the conversation as if they hadn’t been interrupted, putting a hand to his chest in mock hurt. “And why would you do that?”  
“Look, Jefferson, are you planning on hitting on me again this year? Because it gets old fast.”  
Jefferson rolls his eyes. “No, Angelica, I have no intentions with you other than intelligent conversation and the occasional witty insult. Although, who was your friend there?” He looks toward the Transfiguration room with keen interest, his eyebrow raised.  
“No.”  
“But—”  
“No, Thomas. She’s a first year. You’re a fourth year. It’s creepy.”  
Jefferson sighs but says, “All right, I won’t go after your precious first year.”  
“Good. Now, was there a reason you engaged me in this aimless conversation, or can I go now?”  
“I was going to ask if you thought that the whole ‘shoulder-tapping’ thing Washington mentioned at the feast had anything to do with King George.”  
Angelica raises an eyebrow. “Why would it?”  
“Well, there’s been rumors about Washington starting a student army, in case he tries to take over the school.”  
“I highly doubt that’s what’s going on, but if I get tapped on the shoulder and let into a secret army, you’ll be the first person I tell.”  
Angelica then walks away from a sighing Thomas Jefferson.

“Angelica Schuyler thinks I’m crazy,” Thomas Jefferson laments to James Madison, his best friend since they met their first year at Hogwarts. Now in their fourth year, they were two of the smartest Ravenclaws, and were idolized by underclassmen, and looked on with grudging respect by upperclassmen.  
“Did you hit on her again?” James asks tiredly, looking up from the book he was attempting to read.  
Thomas snorted. “No way. Angelica Schuyler is so not worth my time. Although she did have a friend with her…”  
James raises his eyebrows. “Was she a first year?”  
Thomas sighs dejectedly. “Yes.”  
“Thomas, it was ok liking first years when you were a first year. As a second year, it was still pretty normal. Last year, it got a little weird. You need to stop this now, or before you know it, you’ll be a seventh year hitting on kids. And that’s just unacceptable.”  
Thomas sighs again, and readjusts himself so that his head is lying on James’s legs. James puts his book down on the table next to him, resigning himself to the fact that he isn’t going to get any reading done.  
“When did you become my moral compass, James?” Thomas asks with a contemplative air.  
“I honestly couldn’t answer that question,” James responds.  
“I’m not trying to be weird, I swear. Just, the girl Schuyler had with her, the first year, she…she reminded me of Martha.”  
“You can’t just use Martha as an excuse for everything,” James says.  
“I’m serious, they had the same eyes,” Thomas protests. He pauses for a moment, then muses, “Besides, I think I have at least another year before she stops being a valid excuse. I really loved her, you know.”  
James chuckles. “I’m sure you did. Anyway, what were you saying about Angelica Schuyler thinking you’re crazy?”  
“Right. Well, I told her my theory about the secret army to defeat King George, and—” He’s cut off by a snort from his best friend. “Excuse me? What about that do you find so amusing?”  
“No, it’s nothing, continue,” James waves him away.  
“James,” Thomas says in a warning tone.  
“Look, I’ve already told you what I think of your theory.”  
Thomas gives James a sour look. “Yes, I seem to remember you being fairly skeptical, although I’d hoped my ears had simply deceived me and you’d really said, ‘of course, Thomas! What a genius idea, that must be it!’” Thomas affects a very high flamboyant tone to impersonate his friend, although in reality James Madison’s voice is much deeper than his own.  
James shakes his head. “Look, I just think it’s silly for you to think that Washington would recruit a bunch of kids to take on King George when they have the Ministry—”  
“But the Ministry’s corrupt!” Thomas bursts out. “My father works there, he should know. It’s getting so that you can’t trust anyone. King George has half of them working for him!”  
“So the next logical step is recruiting…Hogwarts students?”   
“Yes!” Thomas practically whines. “Washington chooses people he knows he can trust, teams them up with the Ministry members who are still trustworthy, and—”  
“And then you have the dream team to take down King George, yes, I remember your hour-long rant, you don’t need to reprise it.”  
Thomas scowls, but curls up closer to his friend anyway. “Fine. But if I end up being right, you owe me…ten galleons.”  
James chuckles and says, “All right.” The darker boy runs his fingers through Thomas’s hair absently, a habit he’s picked up over the years that Thomas has known him. Thomas doesn’t mind, though. In fact, he happens to like it quite a lot. James has a soothing effect on him that no one else has ever had, not even Martha. Martha had been quite the opposite, actually, making Thomas twitchy, agitated, and desperate in a way that wasn’t always pleasant. Deep down in his mind, Thomas knows that it’s probably for the best that Martha had moved away, and although her cutting off all contact with him had been harsh, Thomas likes to think that he’d recovered admirably. A lot of that was writing bitter letters and frankly horrible poetry and watching James burn them all in the Common Room fire while he sobbed into his friend’s shoulders, but still. He’s much better now.  
Thomas often wonders what his life would have been like if he and James hadn’t been paired together to make a potion that they proceeded to blow up (back when Thomas had been too cocky to read the directions, and James too shy to speak up), which led to them spending three hours together cleaning with classroom with nothing to do but talk. This way, Thomas had discovered that James was his intellectual equal, even more so than other Ravenclaws that he’d met. On top of that, James’s quiet yet opinionated personality complemented his own perfectly. As they grew closer, Thomas discovered that James was also the perfect mix of being supportive, but also not taking any of Thomas’s shit.  
He was the perfect partner in crime.  
“James?” Thomas spoke up.  
“Hmmm?” James hummed, his fingers still running through Thomas’s hair.  
“If you get into the secret group, and you see that I’m not there, will you say something about it?”  
Now James just bursts out laughing, causing Thomas too sit up in order to not get kicked. “Thomas, if there ever comes a day that I get into a secret society with the purpose of taking down King George, and you don’t, I assure you I will say something about it.”  
“Don’t see why that was cause for such ridiculous laughter,” Thomas huffs indignantly. “Anyway, I’m going to sleep. It’s been a long day. Are you coming?”  
“No, I think I’ll visit the library.”  
Thomas rolls his eyes. “You and your books. Well, have fun reading.”  
“I’ll certainly try.”

Just as James is about to walk into the library, he sees a very familiar figure emerge from it, and he grabs her arm. “Dolley!”  
Dolley looks up and her face immediately lights up into a grin. “James!” She gives him a quick hug, then leads him back into the library, where they sit across from each other. “I can’t believe this is the first time I’m seeing you since I’ve been here.”  
“It’s a big school. I’m sorry, I should have sought you out sooner. I don’t think I realized how old you’d gotten.” James can’t keep the fondness out of his voice. Being the daughter of one of his mother’s closest friends, Dolley has been around for almost as long as he can remember. He’s known her since she was a baby, and sees her as a little sister.  
“Yup, I’m all grown up,” Dolley beams. “I’m glad I ran into you, really. I have so much I want to tell you.”  
“Oh, really? All good things, I hope.” Noticing the badger on her robe, James adds, “How’s Hufflepuff treating you?”   
“It’s really great. I made a friend. Her name’s Elizabeth Schuyler.”  
“Schuyler?”  
“Uh-huh.”  
James chuckles softly to himself. “I think I know her sister.”  
“Angelica, right? A Ravenclaw?” James nods. “Eliza’s told me all about her. She sounds amazing.”  
“She certainly is something. Anyway, how are your classes?”  
“Well, I really like Professor Franklin, he’s so funny. And Professor Knox seems all right, even though he scares me sometimes. Professor Abigail is nice, even though I’m not very good at Potions so far, but I always fall asleep in her husband’s class.”  
James grins. “History of Magic is definitely an acquired taste, and John Adams is even more of one. I think Thomas is one of the only people I know who actually enjoys that class. I think he’s the only student in the history of Hogwarts that Adams actually likes.”  
This causes Dolley to raise her eyebrows and adopt a sly smile, a look that James isn’t sure he likes on the younger girl. “Oh, yes, Thomas Jefferson. I’ve heard so much about him since I’ve gotten here. I always thought you were exaggerating in your letters, since you wrote about him constantly and I didn’t think there was any way someone could really be that interesting. But you wouldn’t believe how many people have told me to stay away from him.”  
“Is that so?”  
“Uh-huh. I asked someone about him, and she told me so much. I’ve learned that your friend is an awful flirt, very smart, but also very cocky and conceited. And then she mentioned you, not knowing that I knew you already. You want to hear what she described you as?”  
At this point, James is leaning his head on one hand, grateful for the color of his skin that’s surely disguising the heat he can feel burning in his cheeks. He’s heard some of the things people have said about him, about how he follows Thomas around like a lost puppy and doesn’t have any real opinions of his own. None of the people who’ve said those things have actually known him, or they’d know how untrue that is. Still, hearing it was never fun. “I’m not sure I do want to hear that, no.”  
“No, it’s good, I promise. She said, ‘James Madison’s his best friend. Some people say he’s Jefferson’s bitch—”  
“Dolley!”  
“Sorry. Anyway, she said, ‘Some people say that, but I’ll be damned if Madison isn’t Jefferson’s rock. I really don’t think that asshole would get anywhere without him.’” Finished, Dolley smiles at James. “Isn’t that nice? Although I don’t know why she called you guys by your last names.”  
James wondered at that last year, when he and Thomas started really gaining a reputation for themselves, and everyone started referring to them as “Jefferson and Madison”. It wasn’t a simplicity thing, since it would have been much easier to just call them “Thomas and James”. Eventually, James decided it was a respect thing. Thomas and James were too common, too ordinary. Jefferson and Madison had much more of a ring to it.  
“Anyway, how has Thomas been? He really is all you seemed to write about. Should I really stay away from him?”  
“If I introduce you to him, you should be fine. He really isn’t as bad as a lot of people say, he’s just…a bit eccentric.”  
“Oh, it would be so great if you introduced me. Not now, obviously, but eventually. It would be so funny to see the looks on everyone’s faces when I tell them I’m friends with Thomas Jefferson. I think some of the girls have crushes on him. Is he cute?”  
James immediately gets flustered, and starts coughing into his hand. Dolley patiently waits him out, used to this sort of thing. “I really…don’t know how to answer that, Dolley,” James finally gets out, feeling uncomfortably hot under the collar.   
“Oh, all right, you don’t have to answer. I guess I’ll find out soon enough for myself. Well, I should get back to the Common Room. I’ll see you around, okay? Now that you know I’m here, you can’t avoid me.”  
James gives the younger girl a hug as they both rise. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”  
“Bye, James!” Dolley calls over her shoulder as she scurries out of the library, as if suddenly realizing that she has somewhere important to be. James waves after her, then shakes his head as he sits back down heavily. What a stupid reaction to such an innocent question. Of course, objectively, he could have answered, that, yes, to some people, Thomas could certainly be perceived as attractive. But when James was included in those people, the topic turned subjective, and…well, James just wasn’t ready to have that conversation.  
He knows it’s silly, and that having a crush on his best friend is hardly original, but he can’t help it. He can, however, hide it fairly well, and he will continue to do that until it goes away. Which will definitely happen, preferably sooner rather than later.  
James isn’t sure how much more of this he can take.


	3. Chapter Three

“I am very excited for our first Flying lesson,” Lafayette gushes. “And I am very glad that we have it together.”  
“Me too,” Alex responds in earnest. “And besides, being paired with Hufflepuff means that I might see Eliza.”  
“Ah, yes,” Lafayette nods. He’d heard quite a lot about this Eliza since his companion had met her a few days before. Being in the same House, Lafayette could reasonably assume that he’d seen her before without knowing it was her. He’d asked Alex for a description, but “eyes like dark pools of charcoal that could swallow the proudest man whole” wasn’t really a good point of comparison when observing girls in the Common Room. “I am much looking forward to meeting this pretty girl who was introduced to you by the other pretty girl.”  
“What can I say? The ladies love me,” Alex says with a cocky grin. Then his expression drops and he grabs Lafayette’s arm. “Look, look, there she is.”  
Lafayette turns his head and sees a pretty Asian girl talking to another girl who seems to be bouncing with excitement. “Oui, I recognize her. She seems like a very sweet girl.”  
“Should I say hi? I haven’t talked to her since that day in the dining hall. Do you think she’s forgotten about me?”  
Before Lafayette can answer, Eliza turns around and meets eyes with Alex. Her cheeks flushing a little, she smiles shyly and gives a little wave. Alex blushes just as badly and waves back. Lafayette turns to his friend with a smirk. “There you have it. I can assure you she has not forgotten about you.”  
The smile Alex gives him is so relieved it’s a little ridiculous.  
“All right everyone, I am Professor Hancock. Welcome to your first flying lesson.”  
The Hufflepuff and Slytherin first years settle down and give the man their attention. Alex leans over and whispers into Lafayette’s ear, “He set the bristles of his broomstick on fire and signed his name in the air during a Quidditch match in his fourth year. It distracted everyone so much that his team’s Seeker caught the Snitch and no one even realized. He’s a flying legend.”  
“Today, we are going to focus on getting the broomstick into your hand, and after that has been achieved, we’ll do a little flying. Now, everyone hold your hand over your broomstick and say ‘Up!’. It may take a few tries, and it comes more naturally to some people than others, but I promise, with practice and resilience, you’ll all become, if not great, than at least adequate fliers. Now: begin!”  
Lafayette holds his hand over his broomstick and says, “Up!” in a commanding tone. The broom immediately jumps into his hand, as if eager to get flying, and Lafayette turns to Alex with a smug grin, only to see that Alex is also holding his broomstick. The smug grin turns into a genuine smile that Alex returns.  
Being among the first to master catching his broomstick gives Lafayette a chance to look around and observe everyone else’s progress. Eliza and her friend are both still trying, but don’t look discouraged. Eliza seems to be patiently insisting that the broom come to her, while her friend is laughing as the broom flops around on the grass. He turns and sees Aaron Burr (another person that Alex has described in great detail) having his own struggles with his broom. He has a pleading expression on his face, and Lafayette thinks he can her the boy saying, “Up?” as if it were a question. A very pretty girl (whose name is Maria, if Lafayette remembers correctly) is holding her broom triumphantly in her hands and seems to be looking at Alex, which makes Lafayette shake his head. He wasn’t lying about his appeal to the opposite sex.  
Once everyone has successfully obtained their broomstick (Lafayette saw Aaron Burr bend down and discreetly pick his up), Hancock claps his hands together. “All right. Now, all you’re going to do is mount your broom, kick off from the ground with enough force so that you fly up a few feet, no more. Once you’re there, turn your broom around and tilt it gently downward and try to make a smooth landing. Ready…begin!”  
Lafayette and Alex take to it very quickly, expertly flying up and down, and making flawless landings. After a few rounds of this, Alex decides to change things up, and flies over to Eliza, making a clean landing right next to her. Lafayette hesitates a moment, then shrugs and follows him.  
“Hello, Alexander,” Eliza greets the scrawny boy shyly, holding her broomstick to her side. “Who’s your friend?”  
“Right. Eliza, let me introduce you to the wonderful Gilbert Lafayette, the first friend I made here at Hogwarts.”  
“Please, just call me Lafayette,” Lafayette says, shaking Eliza’s hand with what he hopes is a charming smile. “Laf for short, if you would like.”  
“It’s very nice to meet you, Lafayette. Oh, you two should meet Dolley. Dolley!” Eliza calls up to the girl spinning in circles a few feet above their heads. The girl hears and makes an awkward descent to float nearer to the ground.  
“Hi! I’m Dolley Payne,” the girl announces with a bright smile.  
Lafayette and Alex reintroduce themselves before Dolley takes back to the sky, and then Alex turns to Eliza and asks, “How has your flying been coming along?”  
Eliza shakes her head. “Not too well, unfortunately Dolley’s just trying to perfect her landings—” (As Eliza says this, Dolley hits the ground shoulder first with a loud thump) “but I haven’t been able to get off the ground yet.”  
“Really? Here, come on, try again, I’ll help you,” Alex says, gesturing to her broom.  
Eliza gives him an uncertain look, but mounts her broom anyway.  
“Okay, now, close your eyes and just…imagine the broom flying up as you kick off. Really commit to it.”  
Eliza raises her eyebrows, but after an encouraging look from Alex, she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. Then she kicks off from the ground.  
“Woo! Eliza, you did it!” Alex cheers, clapping his hands in delight. Dolley and Lafayette join in the cheering.  
This causes Eliza to open her eyes and look down. Her eyes grow wide, and her mouth falls open a little as her broom begins to shake. Before anyone can say anything, Eliza loses her grip and falls off the broom. Alex leaps forward and opens his arms wide, catching the girl, while Lafayette jumps up to catch the broom. Eliza and Alex are looking into each other’s eyes with lovesick expressions, and Lafayette sighs and brings the fallen broom over to Dolley. “When those two separate, will you give the broom back to your friend?”  
“Yeah, sure. Thanks for getting it.”  
Lafayette walks back over to his spot and practices flying up and down a few more times before Alex joins him, sporting a lovesick smile.  
“Isn’t she great?” Alex sighs dreamily.  
Lafayette scoffs affectionately. “I do not know how much more of this, how you say, puppy love I can take.”  
They change the subject and talk for a few more minutes, fly for a few more after that, then talk again before Hancock calls out “That’s a wrap, everyone! Class dismissed. Except for, let’s see, Hamilton, Lafayette, and Lewis, could you three join me for a minute after class?”  
Lafayette exchanges a confused look with Alex, then steps forward and walks with him towards the Professor, the pretty girl he’d noticed from earlier joining them. (Maria Lewis, yes, Lafayette is almost certain that that’s her name). The three of them line up in front of Hancock, who gets a mischievous smile on his face. “I didn’t want to say this in front of the others, but you three were by far the best fliers out there,” Hancock says in a confidential tone. Alex immediately puffs his chest up, and Maria tosses her hair back and crosses her arms, looking satisfied. Lafayette settles for a small smile.  
“Now, you don’t have to say yes, in fact, by law I’m probably required to tell you to say no, but if I just happened to see you three finish a race, say, from here to there?” Hancock points at a tree in the distance. “Then, well, there’s really nothing I could have done to stop you, is there?”  
Lafayette isn’t sure how to respond, but Maria instantly answers, “Definitely. I could kick these boy’s butts, any day.”  
Alex bristles and says, “You’re on.” They both turn to Lafayette, who raises his hands in mock surrender.  
“Yes, yes, all right, I will race you two,” he concedes. Then he smirks. “Just do not be too disappointed when I beat you both.”  
Alex lets out a “Ha!” and Hancock claps his hands together. “Wonderful!”  
The three of them grab their broomsticks and line up at the starting line, Alex in the middle. “All right, the first person to tap the tree is the winner. Now, on your marks…get set…” Lafayette sees Marian wink at Alex, who look taken aback and loses his concentration just as Hancock yells, “Go!”  
Lafayette is immediately off the ground, Maria hot at his heels, Alex cursing as he takes the rear. Maria leans forward on her broom, now neck and neck with Lafayette. They continue towards the tree, Lafayette occasionally pulling ahead, only to have Maria take the lead. They’re very well matched, and Lafayette is sure that Alex would be right there with them if he hadn’t been distracted at the very start.  
The race is almost at an end. Lafayette attempts to put on one final boost of speed, but at the last second Maria swerves in front of him, throwing him off balance. Before he can recover, Maria speeds forward and taps the tree, effectively ending the race.  
“And Lewis is the winner!” Hancock calls, flying over on his own broomstick. “Very impressive. And valiant effort from you two, as well,” he addresses Lafayette and Alex. “But, as Miss Lewis has just demonstrated, sometimes you have to play dirty to win.”  
“Better luck next time, boys,” Maria practically purrs. She hands Hancock her broom, and blows Lafayette and Hamilton a kiss before beginning her walk back to the castle.  
Lafayette exchanges a defeated look with Hamilton. “It looks as if we have been beat.”  
Hamilton glares at Maria’s retreating figure. “Oh, it is on. Next time, she’s going down.”  
Lafayette decides it’s best not to say anything.

“You’re going to hurt yourself!”  
John Laurens laughs down at Hercules Mulligan from where he’s hanging upside down from his broomstick. “Aw, come on man, you know my broom loves me.” Nevertheless, John rights himself and flies down to meet his friend on the ground. As he lands, he asks, “Are you concerned about my safety because I’m your friend, or because as the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, you don’t want your best Beater out of commission?”  
“Both,” Hercules answers. “The bludgers are going to give you enough trouble; I don’t need you endangering yourself before we even have our first practice. And also, calling yourself the best Beater? Isn’t that a bit presumptuous, considering this is your first year on the team?”  
John snorts. “Please. I’m better than the guy you had last year, anyway. He was only on the team cuz he didn’t fall off his broom at tryouts.”  
Hercules is silent, which John takes as a victory. They joke around for a few more minutes, John doing stupid tricks on his broomstick, when two kids with ponytails (they’ve gotta be first years) approach them.  
“Um, hi,” the scrawnier one starts off.  
“Yo,” John greets him, doing a little flip off his broom that makes Hercules roll his eyes. “What’s up?”  
“Hi, so…we’re first years, so we can’t be on any Quidditch teams, and we’re not trying to be, but we like flying, and we’re pretty good at it for beginners, and we’d like to improve our skills so that when we are eligible to be on a team, we could make it, so—”  
“What my friend is trying to say,” the other one cuts in with a strong French accent, “is would it be possible for us to practice flying here?”  
John looks at Hercules, who just shrugs, leaving it up to him. John turns back to the boys and inspects them. Neither of them are Gryffindors, like him and Herc, so them getting better at flying wouldn’t be beneficial, and could even hurt their team in the future. And messing with first years might be fun. But…something about the two boys made John like them. (Especially the one who’d spoken first. The way he’d rambled on, trying to explain his point was kind of adorable). Eventually, John laughed, making the boys raise their eyebrows.  
“Yeah, sure you can mess around here, Quidditch practice hasn’t started yet, and nobody’s booked the field. Come on, I’ll get you some brooms.”  
Looking relieved, the boys followed John to the equipment room. “They’re not the greatest brooms, but they get the job done,” John says, handing one to each of them. “What are your names, by the way?”  
“Alexander Hamilton,” the scrawny kid answers right away.  
“Gilbert Lafayette,” the French one responds, wincing at the sound of his own first name. “But please, just call me Lafayette. If you like nicknames, I accept Laf.”  
This amuses John, who gives them a half-smile as he grabs a Quaffle and leads them out of the equipment room. “Alex. Laf. I’m John Laurens. And this,” John says as he throws the Quaffle to his fourth year friend, “is Hercules Mulligan.”  
“Herc,” he grunts back, catching the Quaffle adeptly.  
“Y’all are first years, right?” John asks.  
They both nod.  
“Yeah, I figured. I was one of those last year. It gets better. And worse, I guess. But if Quidditch is your thing, you can’t go wrong. Herc here is Captain.”  
Alex widens his eyes. “Oh, wow. Captain? That’s incredible.”  
John and Hercules laugh a little before John says, “Yup. He’s a Quidditch master. I’m just a Beater, myself.”  
“I think I’d be a Beater if I were on a team,” Alex responds seriously. “Wait a minute, I’m sorry, but you said your name was John Laurens? Are you by any chance related to—”  
“Henry Laurens? Yeah, he’s my dad,” John answers. “Don’t worry, I don’t agree with anything he says about Muggles. He’s an asshole, most of the time.”  
Alex breathes an audible sigh of relief. “Well, that’s good, or your friendship with myself and Lafayette would be over before it had even begun.”  
“You’re both Muggle-borns?”  
Alex and Lafayette nod.  
“As you probably already know, if you know who Henry Laurens is, I’m a pureblood. I’d never act superior about it, though, unlike some people.”  
“Like Thomas Jefferson,” Hercules injects. “He’s in my year. He’s probably a genius, but he’s a grade-A asshole about blood. He barely makes an exception for half-bloods, but I guess he’d have to, or else he’d have no friends. He’s only really got the one, as it is.”  
“I haven’t really met anyone like that yet,” Alex says.  
“Neither have I,” Lafayette adds.  
John shakes his head a little. “Well, prepare yourself for when you do. I wish it didn’t happen, but all you can do is act like it doesn’t affect you and know that they’re just insecure bigoted jerks.”  
There’s a brief silence before Hercules pipes up, “Well, the life lessons are always fun, but I believe these guys came here to fly?”  
John nods. “Right. What do you guys think about a little game of two-on-two, with just the Quaffle?”  
Alex and Laf exchange looks before Laf says, “I am not very familiar with the rules of this game.”  
“And I’ve read about it, but I’ve never actually, like, seen it or played it,” Alex adds.  
“Oh, duh,” John smacks himself in the head. He briefly explains the rules, then turns to Herc and suggests, “Since they’re newbies, how bout I’ll take one and you take the other? You can have Laf; I’ll take Alex.” John turns to Alex and winks at him, and for a second it looks like Alex is blushing, but John pushes the thought aside and takes to the field.  
The game is pretty evenly matched. Even for never having played before, both Alex and Laf are decent fliers, and pick up the rules of the game quickly. Herc is generally a better player than John, but John quickly finds that he and Alex have some sort of unspoken connection that boosts their performance considerably. After about half an hour of this, they’re all pretty tired, and they’ve obtained a small audience of one.  
“Hey, do you know that girl watching us?” John asks Alex while they’re taking a break.  
Alex looks into the bleachers, apparently unaware that anyone was there. Recognition and a trace of something else crosses his features. “That’s Maria Lewis,” he answers. “She beat me and Lafayette in a race after our first Flying lesson.”  
“Aw, man, you guys got chosen by Hancock? Nice job. He chose me too, last year. It’s always a good sign.” John turns back to the bleachers and gives Maria a once-over. She’s still looking at the field intently, even though nothing is happening. “Maybe we should ask her to play.”  
Alex shakes his head. “Then the teams would be uneven.”  
“Hey, I’m sure we could find someone else.” John spots a boy walking by the field, holding a few books under his arm. “What about him?”  
“Aaron Burr?”  
“No shit! The Aaron Burr? Like, son of Aaron and Esther Burr?”  
Alex nods.  
“Man, I met him once at a family party. Dad invited everyone important he could think of. He was such a shrimpy kid. Real quiet, too.” John cups his hands around his mouth and calls, “Yo! Herc! It’s Aaron Burr!”  
This attracts the attention of Hercules, but it also makes the boy turn his head to look at the Quidditch players.  
“Aaron Burr!” John Laurens calls out. “How’s it goin’, dude? It’s John Laurens! My dad tried to exploit you for your fame!”  
This causes Aaron Burr to cross the field over to them and say, “Right. I remember that.”  
“Wanna play some Quidditch?” John asks him. “We could do with an extra player.”  
“Aside from the fact that you already have even teams, I have absolutely no desire to mount a broomstick and chase a ball around a field and try to get that ball into a hoop. Sorry to disappoint.”  
He starts to walk away, and Hercules calls after him, “Nah, come on, don’t be like that!”  
Aaron Burr keeps walking, giving them a little two-finger salute without turning around.  
John shakes his head, and Laf says, “He is the worst.”  
“Aw, I don’t think he’s that bad,” Alex speaks up. “He’s had a rough life, and besides, he was in our Flying lesson, remember, Laf? He couldn’t even get his broom off the ground. He probably wouldn’t have been able to play with us even if he wanted to.”  
“Whatever. He seems like a weird little dude to me,” Hercules points out.  
“All right, enough about Aaron Burr,” John says, seeing that Alex is about to come to the kid’s defense again (although why is completely beyond John). “Let’s have one more round before it gets too dark to play, okay?”  
They do, and though they’ve long since stopped keeping score, Maria Lewis joins them on the field when she sees that they’re done and says, “Hamilton and Freckles beat Lafayette and Captain by two points. Good game, boys.” And then she’s gone.  
They all watch her walk away. “You think she’ll do Quidditch next year?” John asks the group as a whole.  
Alex lets out a low whistle. “I’d feel very sorry for the Slytherin team if she didn’t.”  
They part ways, and Hercules and John go back to the Gryffindor Common Room.  
“So, what do you think of those guys?” John asks.  
“They seem pretty cool. Anyone that good at Flying this early is ok in my book. Why? Are you planning on adopting them?”  
John snorts. “Yeah, maybe.” There’s a lull in the conversation, and then John adds, “Is it just me, or is Alex, like, really cute?”  
Herc lets out a laugh and says, “Well, it’s not me, but if you think so, I’d say you have a pretty good chance. He was looking at you like a god the whole time we were playing.”  
“You think so?”  
“Dude, no doubt in my mind. I promise.”  
They change the subject and continue the conversation, but Alex’s electric eyes and charismatic smile remain at the back of John’s mind for the rest of the night.


	4. Chapter Four

“All right, everyone, today you’ll be pairing up to make the potion you will find if you turn to page 36 in your books,” Professor Abigail announces to the class. “So pick a partner and get started.”  
Eliza looks around the room anxiously, hoping to catch someone’s eye. She sees Alex right away, but he’s already paired up with Lafayette. Not wanting to make him feel guilty, she turns her head away and ends up staring into a pair of light brown eyes. She lets out as small gasp as the girl in front of her pulls her red lips into a smile. “Hi, I’m Maria,” the girl says. “Partners?”  
Shaking off the initial fright the girl had given her, Eliza smiles in what she hopes is a convincing manner. “Sure.”  
They spend the first few minutes working together without talking much, just sticking to the instructions and chopping up various magical herbs to deposit into their cauldron. As Eliza’s wiping her hands on her robe, she realizes that she never introduced herself. “Oh! I’m Eliza, by the way.”  
Maria laughs and says, “It’s nice to meet you.” Another few minutes pass before Maria gets a mischievous look on her face and says, “So, Eliza…do you have a boyfriend?”  
Eliza giggles a little before replying, “No, I don’t have a boyfriend.”  
“Do you like anybody?” Maria persists.  
“Well, there is this one boy…but we’re just friends, probably nothing will come of it.”  
“Hey, don’t discredit yourself, lots of guys fall for that helpless doe-eyed sweetheart look. I use it occasionally.”  
Eliza isn’t sure if this is meant as a compliment or not, so she just says, “What about you? Do you have a boyfriend?”  
“No, not yet.” Maria puts her chin in her hand as she leans on the table, apparently thinking. “There’s this third year, James Reynolds, who’s kinda cute. I think he likes me, too, so I might go for him. There’s this other guy, though…see the skinny one over there, next to the kid with the big ponytail? I’ve kind of got a thing for him.”  
Eliza looks over and her heart drops a little when she sees Alex and Lafayette, flinging flecks of something at each other. How is she supposed to compete with someone like Maria?  
Alex seems to notice her looking at him, and turns his head towards them. He catches Eliza’s eye, and gives her a wave before getting hit in the ear by Lafayette’s latest attack, and turning back to the battle at hand. Eliza turns to face Maria, who raises her eyebrows. “You know him?”  
“Yeah, sort of,” Eliza stammers a little.  
“Is he the boy you were talking about earlier?”  
Eliza hesitates, then nods.  
“All right, I won’t mess with that. Hey, thanks for helping me choose which boy to go after. If I’d chosen Hamilton, you might not have liked me very much, huh? And then how would we have become friends?”  
Eliza hadn’t been aware that they were in fact in the process of becoming friends, but now that she thinks about it, she has sort of grown fond of Maria in the brief time they’ve been talking, even if she does say some questionable things and seems a bit too boy-crazy for her own good. Besides, Eliza reasons, Maria seems like the sort of girl you’d want on your side.  
“No problem,” Eliza responds. “Good luck with James Reynolds.”  
Maria snorts and says, “I won’t need luck. So, anyway, what’s your favorite subject so far?”  
They talk about school-related topics for the rest of class. Maria learns that Eliza’s favorite subject is between Charms and Potions, and Eliza learns that Maria favors Defense Against the Dark Arts and Flying. Eliza also hears the story of how Maria beat both Alex and Lafayette in a race after their first Flying lesson, and finds out that Maria is a half-blood, with her father being a wizard and her mother being a Muggle. “Apparently my mom fainted when she found out,” Maria recounts, “but by the time I came around, she was thrilled when I brought a whole cabinet down without touching it because she’d put some chocolate on the top shelf.”  
Eliza tells her own story of how her magic was discovered, which Maria is impressed by. “You’ve got some serious mojo, girl,” she admits.  
“It’s funny, because after that, I could set fire to anything I wanted, with no effort,” Eliza admits. “If a spell has anything to do with fire, I can do it. Other than that, I’m practically useless. Nothing like my sister. She’s good at everything.”  
“Hey, don’t compare yourself like that, you’re different people,” Maria says. “Besides, the last time I checked, fire is definitely not useless. Nobody’s gonna mess with you if they think their head is gonna burst into flames.”  
“Yeah, I guess.”  
By the time Professor Abigail dismisses them, their potion is complete (and while not the best, it certainly came out a lot better than most of the others), and Eliza is confident in the fact that she’s made another friend. She says goodbye to Maria at the door, and starts to walk down the hallway when Alex runs up beside her.  
“Eliza!” he greets her in the overly excited puppy way that he has.  
“What’s up?”  
“Was that Maria Lewis who was talking to you? Your partner?” he clarifies.  
“Yes, it was. Why?”  
“You can’t trust her.” Eliza laughs, and Alex looks taken aback. “I’m serious! She’s not to be trusted, I promise. She—”  
“I heard all about how she beat you and Lafayette in that race. It made a great story, by the way. I was in stitches.”  
Alex pouts indignantly. “But-but-she cheated!”  
“Last time I checked, winking at someone doesn’t qualify as cheating. It’s your own fault for allowing yourself to be distracted.”  
“But…she’s evil,” Alex protests weakly.  
“I promise you she’s not.” Alex is still pouting, so Eliza adds, “Really. She’s completely nice, even if she’s a little weird, and besides, she promised me she wouldn’t go after you anymore, so you don’t have to worry about it.” The second after the words are out of her mouth, Eliza realizes that she’s said too much and starts walking faster.  
Alex stops and says, “She was going after me? Wait, why did she promise you? Eliza!”  
“Sorry, I don’t want to be late to class!” Eliza calls over her shoulder. She ducks into the Transfiguration room and takes a seat next to Dolley, only slightly out of breath.  
“What’s wrong, Eliza?” Dolley asks in a concerned tone. “Were you running?”  
“Just wanted to be here on time,” Eliza answers, taking out her book and putting it on her desk.  
That had been a close one.

By the time October rolls around, Alexander Hamilton is doing very well in all his classes, is completely caught up on all his assignments, and has even asked for extra work in a few of them. A lot of people in his classes take offense to this, but Alex doesn’t mind. He’s here to get ahead, and a few underachievers aren’t going to slow him down. Besides, he doesn’t need them; he has John, Herc, Lafayette, and Eliza. Even Aaron Burr in an odd sort of way where he will talk to the prodigy and Burr will occasionally give him a response. He’s doing well.  
So when Washington asks Hamilton to accompany him to his office, he isn’t really sure why.  
Alex knows that Washington has been observing classes, something that apparently hasn’t been done before, and the whole school is buzzing about it. Some people think that he’s looking to fire professors. Some people think that he’s looking to expel students. Alex doesn’t think either of those things, but he doesn’t have his own theory, so he usually keeps his mouth shut when the subject arises. Or, at least, he tries to. Mostly.  
The young Slytherin walks quietly behind Washington, who leads him to his office and sits down at his desk, gesturing for Alex to sit across from him. Alex hesitates. “Have I done something wrong, sir?”  
“On the contrary. Have a seat, Hamilton.” Washington gestures again to the chair across from his desk, and Alex slowly sits down, still unsure. “Hamilton, let me be honest with you: I don’t think I’ve seen anyone with your unhinged ambition in all my years working here. And I’ve been here for a long time.”  
Alex flushes with pride, and says, “Thank you, si—”  
“I’m not finished.” Washington holds up his hand, cutting Alex off. “I called you here to ask you why.”  
“Pardon?”  
“Why do you write like you’re…running out of time?” Washington expands. “Why is it that you turn in nearly every assignment early, ask for extra work, and don’t seem to be satisfied with anything less than perfect? What are you trying to accomplish?”  
After a brief period of stunned silence, Alex responds honestly, “Well…I suppose it’s partly because I’m a Muggle-born. No one knows who I am, and there are going to be people who will write me off write away based purely on where I come from. I want to make a name for myself. I want to have a legacy.” Sensing that Washington is waiting for more, he adds, “And…I want to make a difference. I really do, sir. I want to make the world a better place to live in, and the best way that I can see to do that is to work hard and become the best possible wizard I can be.”  
Washington says nothing, just looks at Alex for a moment, before leaning forward on his desk and saying, “You know, I was just like you when I was younger. Desperate to get ahead. I admire you for it. I just have one request for you.”  
“Anything, sir.”  
“Don’t wear yourself out. I can guarantee that the world will need someone like you someday, and it would be an awful shame to find out that the one person who could save us all burned himself out his first year at Hogwarts.”  
Alex isn’t sure how to take this, but then Washington smiles, and Alex smiles back. “Will that be all, sir?”  
“Yes,” Washington dismisses him. “You can get back to the rest of your day now.”  
Alex gets up and walks towards the door, and just as he touches the handle, Washington calls out, “Hamilton!” Alex turns around to face the Headmaster, who says, “Keep up the good work. I’m proud of you.”  
Alex practically skips down to lunch, where he joins Lafayette and Eliza at the Hufflepuff table and immediately recounts the entire interaction.  
“Isn’t that great?” Alex finishes. “I had no idea Washington was so amazing!”  
“That’s great, Alex!” Eliza responds enthusiastically.  
“Oui, I am very happy for you,” Lafayette contributes. “Headmaster Washington also talked to me earlier today.”  
“Wow, really?” Alex exclaims. “What did he say?”  
“Just that he is very impressed with my adjustment to an entirely new culture, and that I am doing very well here in his school.”  
“He had a talk with Angelica a few days ago,” Eliza adds. “The same stuff, about how he’d noticed how clever and brave she is, and how she’s going to make a great impact on society someday. He also asked her how she’d react to danger, which was a little weird, but she said he seemed satisfied with her response.”  
“He asked me a similar question about if I was comfortable with fighting,” Lafayette recalls. “I replied that I was not a baby, and would gladly fight anyone who deserved it. I believe he laughed quite a lot at this.”  
“What do you think it all means?” Alex asks.  
Eliza shakes her head. “I don’t know. I’d say he was interviewing you guys for something. Maybe, like…an internship? Where you help Washington out on certain things and prepare for the future in the process?”  
“Well, whatever it is, I hope I made a good enough impression,” Alex says, suddenly looking doubtful. “I’d do anything for an opportunity to get ahead. And a recommendation from Washington himself? That would just be priceless.”  
“Well, whatever it is, I hope that we both get to be a part of it,” Lafayette says just as Hercules and John walk over to their table.  
“Hey, guys. Whatcha talking about?” John asks, sitting next to Alex.  
“Washington pulled Lafayette and Alex aside to talk to them today,” Eliza supplies. “It happened to my sister, too. We were just talking about what it might mean.”  
Hercules immediately rolls his eyes. “Ugh, Thomas Jefferson has done nothing but brag about how Washington spoke to him personally about how great he is for days. It’s completely insufferable.”  
“I really have to meet this Jefferson guy,” Alex says thoughtfully.  
Herc shakes his head. “The longer you avoid him, the better. I only have two classes with him and I always leave wanting to rip my ears off.”  
“So…me, Laf, Angelica, and Thomas Jefferson,” Alex muses. “I can’t wait to see what this ends up being about.”  
“When it happens, you gotta tell us all about it,” John insists.  
“Oh, trust me, you three will be the first to know,” Alex assures the group. “I just hope it happens sooner than later.”

Aaron Burr has come to love Saturdays. Not that his classes were too hard or anything like that; on the contrary, most of them were pretty simple, and he was doing well in all of them (he’d even managed to get his broom off the ground in Flying lessons). He didn’t really have any friends, but it didn’t bother him. Hamilton would occasionally come over to him and attempt to initiate conversations, and while Aaron would never admit it, he appreciated Hamilton’s company. In small doses, of course. He’d noticed that Hamilton had had no trouble making friends, and could often be seen with a miss-matched crew of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, with an occasional Ravenclaw.  
Watching them, Aaron sometimes finds himself wishing for a group of friends like that. The closest thing he has apart from Hamilton is Charles Lee, who is frankly tiring to be around at times.  
So when Saturdays come around, Aaron spends most of his time in the dining hall, curled up at the end of the Slytherin table with a book. He’s never lonely when he’s reading, because his mind is always somewhere else.  
This Saturday is no exception, until Aaron is rudely disturbed by shouting coming from the other end of the dining hall.  
“I can’t believe you!” It’s a female voice that sounds oddly familiar, and Aaron looks up to see who it is. He immediately recognizes her as Theodosia, the girl who’d talked to him his first day at Hogwarts. Charles had told him not bother; that she had a boyfriend. Aaron assumes the boyfriend is who she’s currently yelling at.  
“Babe, stop taking it so seriously,” the guy says in a significantly condescending tone. “I made plans with the guys for today, like, weeks ago.”  
“Okay, but we made plans for today when we started going out a year ago, today. It’s our anniversary, James, I can’t believe you would forget this!”  
“Look, I’ll make it up to you, I promise,” the boyfriend who is apparently named James says. “But I really have to go now, okay? I’ll see you later.” He leans in to kiss her, but she turns away. He sighs and walks away, rolling his eyes.  
Theodosia stands where she is for a moment, then lets out a growl of frustration and sits down, putting her head in her hands. Aaron looks at her for a minute, unsure of what to do. She probably wants to be left alone, and he should honor that, but…well, he may never get another chance to talk to her. And she could always use a shoulder to cry on.  
Mind made up, Aaron makes his way over to the girl and tentatively sits down next to her. Aware of the shift in energy, Theodosia raises her head and sees Aaron. She’s not crying, which Aaron admires. She just looks extremely furious, and Aaron would hate to ever be on the receiving end of that look. He is, for a second, before Theodosia registers his presence and the anger turns to confusion, and then recognition.  
“Hey, you’re that kid from the first day of school,” she says, pointing at him. “The one with Charles Lee. Did you stay away from him, like I said?”  
Aaron is amazed that she’s so selflessly turning the conversation to talk about Aaron, even after she’s just had a huge fight with her boyfriend. It’s a little mind-blowing, honestly.  
“As much as anyone can stay away from Charles Lee, I guess,” Aaron answers, earning a small laugh from Theodosia. “So…I saw the fight. Was that your boyfriend?”  
“Of one year, as of today, God help me,” Theodosia responds, shaking her head. “He was such a great guy a year ago, and he was so adorably awkward when he asked me out, I just…it’s crazy how much he’s changed. Or how much he’s become a different part of himself, I guess. I don’t believe that people really change. They exercise different traits that they had all along. Although I have no idea why he’d choose to be this version of himself.” She pauses, and looks at Aaron guiltily. “I’m sorry, I’m babbling.”  
“Not at all, I asked. Please, keep going. This is the most interesting conversation I’ve had since I’ve been at Hogwarts.”  
Theodosia snorts, then continues. “Well, if you insist. It’s just, I know I’m probably overreacting, and I’d never want to be the girlfriend who keeps her boyfriend away from his friends, but…I mean, this is our one year anniversary. That’s a big deal, right? I’m not just crazy? Sometimes he makes me feel like I’m crazy.”  
“Well, I barely know you, and I don’t know him at all, but I don’t think you’re crazy. And he sounds like a shitty boyfriend for making you feel that way. And…I think you deserve so much better.”  
Aaron curses at himself internally, certain that he’s said too much. But Theodosia just looks at him thoughtfully. “You know what, maybe I do,” she says. “Thank you, I mean it. You’re a really sweet kid. Wait, hold on—I’ve been babbling on about my relationship problems this whole time and I don’t even know your name!”  
“Oh, uh, it’s Aaron.” He pauses, then bites the bullet. “Aaron Burr.”  
Her eyes widen in recognition. “Like, the Aaron Burr? Older Aaron Burr’s kid?”  
Aaron nods.  
“Oh, wow. You’re, like, famous,” she notes. “What are you doing sitting here talking to me?”  
“Like I said, holding the most interesting conversation I’ve had since I got to Hogwarts,” Aaron answers honestly.  
This makes Theodosia smile. “Well, I’m Theodosia Prevost, if you were curious. Not quite as famous as Aaron Burr, of course, but I do have the best marks in Astronomy over everyone else in my year, and that’s not nothing.”  
Aaron chuckles. “No, it’s certainly not.”  
They continue talking until Aaron loses track of time, something that he rarely does. He has no idea that so much time has passed until students start filing in for dinner, including Theodosia’s boyfriend.  
“Have you been here the whole time?” he asks incredulously. “What were you doing? Pouting because I hung out with my friends instead of you?”  
“Actually, I was talking to Aaron here.” James gives Aaron a withering look that makes him want to melt into the floor, but Theodosia stays strong. “He’s done a much better job at keeping me company on our anniversary than you have.”  
James snorts. “Well, if you wanna leave me for this shrimp, just let me know.”  
“Honestly? I don’t have to leave you for anybody. I can just leave you. I’m done with you, James Marcus. We are done.”  
Aaron and James seem to be equally shocked at her statement. Theodosia brushes past her now ex-boyfriend, heading over to some of her friends. James recovers partially from his shock and splutters, “B…but, it’s our one-year anniversary!”  
Theodosia whirls around, eyes blazing. “Oh right, because that mattered so much to you earlier today when you just had to dick around with your douchebag friends that you see every day.” This renders him speechless, and she smiles victoriously before turning to Aaron and saying, “Oh yeah, and Aaron? I’d love to talk to you again. Soon, okay? Promise me.”  
“I…I promise,” Aaron stammers out.  
Theodosia grins, and goes to sit down with her friends. James turns to Aaron, looking aghast. Aaron just shrugs in a fake apologetic way, picks up his book, and heads back over to the Slytherin table, feeling better than he had in weeks.  
Theodosia would love to talk to him again.  
Suck it, James Marcus.


End file.
